1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connector assembly consisting of connectors provided on two members to be assembled to each other, for example, an instrument panel of a vehicle and a component to be mounted on the instrument panel, and more particularly to a low coupling force connector assembly which enables the component and the instrument panel to be connector-connected concurrently with mounting the component on the instrument panel and which attains a reduction in the force required for coupling its connectors.
2. Description of the Related Art
To connector-connect two members concurrently with their assembly to each other, a connector assembly of a plug-in type is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Specification No. Hei 8-241756, the connector assembly being shown in longitudinal section in FIG. 9.
In this figure, 110 designates an electronic component unit and 120 a chassis which receives the unit. The electronic component unit 110 has a female connector 131 projecting at the front, and the chassis 120 has a corresponding male connector 132 mounted via an adapter 132a on an innermost wall thereof. The male connector 132 is inserted into the female connector 131 to be coupled in a plug-in manner.
With such a structure, by pushing the electronic component unit 110 into the chassis 120, the male and female connectors 131 and 132 are coupled simultaneously with assembling the electric component unit 110 to the chassis 120.
There is a drawback, however, to the conventional plug-in type connector assembly in which the female and male connectors 131, 132 are simply pushed into coupling with each other that a large insertion force is required to couple the connectors in accordance with an increase in the number of terminals involved (multipolarization), often resulting in an incomplete coupling of the connectors 131, 132.
Another drawback is that, the larger the force required to couple the female and male connectors 131, 132, the larger the force required to push the electronic component unit 110 into the chassis 120. As a result, the casing for the electronic component unit 110 and the chassis 120 must be correspondingly given a higher rigidity.
To reduce the insertion force required to couple male and female connectors, a connector assembly with a lever is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Specification No. Hei 5-114436, which connector is for use to connect vehicle-mounted wiring harnesses to each other and shown in longitudinal section in FIG. 10.
The connector assembly with a lever, as shown in FIG. 10, includes a connector box 210 attached to a vehicle panel 201, a male connector 220 having a housing received inside the connector box 210, a lever 230 rotatably provided on the housing of the male connector 220, and a female connector 240 matable with the male connector 220.
The female connector 240 is at a side wall thereof provided with a cam projection 241, and the lever 230 is formed with a substantially arc-like cam groove 231 for guiding the cam projection 241 therein.
In the thus constructed conventional lever-equipped connector assembly, as shown in FIGS. 11A to 11D, after the male connector 220 is set in place in the connector box 210, the female connector 240 is aligned with the male connector 220 and pushed into the connector box 210 so that its cam projection 241 is introduced into the cam groove 231 of the lever 230, followed by rotating the lever 230 to bring the male and female connectors 220, 240 into coupling in the connector box 210 with a low insertion force.
There is a drawback, however, to the above conventional lever-equipped connector assembly that the completion of coupling the male and female connectors 220, 240 cannot be known through a tactile sense at pushing in the female connector 240 or visually on the outside appearance of the pushed-in female connector.